Once unlocked, you'll have access to a variety of tasks that showcase how battling works in Pokémon TCG Pocket. If you’re a seasoned Pokémon TCG player, these initial tasks won’t be difficult—and if Pokémon TCG Pocket is your first experience with Pokémon TCG-style battling, you’ll get the hang of it quickly. Once you’ve finished the tasks, you’ll be fully prepared to undertake battles in both solo and versus mode using pre-built decks and your own creations!
Lightning-type Pokémon like Pikachu ex—appearing here as a Stellar Tera Pokémon ex—are the feature attraction in Scarlet & Violet—Surging Sparks. They’re joined in this latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion by a parade of draconic Pokémon, new ACE SPEC cards, and more. There are over 250 cards to be found in the expansion, which means there’s a bounty of incredible new artwork to enjoy. Let’s take a look at a few of these impressive pieces.
If we had to choose one word to describe these illustrations by artist miki kudo, it would have to be charming. Just look at their Helioptile card! How sweet is that little Pokémon? And that doe-eyed stare combined with a silly little V-shaped smile? It’s too much! When Helioptile’s frills are spread, it’s generating electrical power, but here that crackling energy just looks like cute sparkles. Dare we go in for a hug? A cuddle with kudo’s Spheal is probably a safer option, although we might have trouble navigating the ice floes that provide the setting for their frolicking. Still, these roly-poly friends seem worth the risk. The storybook illustration style that kudo uses to depict these Pokémon gives them a whimsical quality that is truly irresistible.
A new artist to the Pokémon TCG, Narano has immediately captivated us with their unique style. Their Togekiss card serves as a good example of their technique: Black lines separate the bold, bright colors used in the piece, gifting the illustration with an energetic feel. The technique is even more apparent on Narano’s Castform Sunny Form illustration rare card. The outlines make everything pop, from the different color tones on the Pokémon to every billow on the clouds to the many (many) tiny landmarks on the ground below. Even the blue sky overhead is transformed into a maze of intricate detail. We could stare at this card for hours!
Pokémon battles are awesome, but sometimes you need to take a moment to relax and center yourself. These Pokémon all seem to be tapping into that feeling, allowing all their worries to be whisked away. Alolan Dugtrio (illus. Dsuke) has (almost!) all its eyes closed, meditating as the breeze flows through its luxurious locks. This shockingly realistic Vivillon (illus. REND) illustration rare card instantly transports us into a dense forest. The delicate Pokémon throughout the serene scene imparts a sense of quiet—if we listen closely enough, we just might be able to hear Vivillon’s wings gently flapping. Sprawled out in a grassy field, Slakoth (illus. Mékayu) appears to be experiencing pure bliss on its illustration rare card. Maybe it’s not as contemplative as the others, but dang, does it ever look relaxed! Take It Easy, indeed!
These cards continue the feel-good vibes with settings and situations that are simply…cozy. Take, for instance, Indeedee (illus. Sekio), who’s investigating a bookshelf. Are we in a bookstore? Is this someone’s personal library? Whatever the case, the packed shelves and carved wooden supports create an environment that any bibliophile would love to get lost in. And if you have a Pokémon partner who can use its psychic powers to hand you the perfect book? Well, that’s just icing on the cake! It seems Eevee (illus. Naoyo Kimura) prefers an outdoor setting, and given the beauty of the flowery field and verdant mountains, who can blame it? We’d cozy up there too. Olivine City Gym Leader Jasmine seems to enjoy a cozy café aesthetic on her Jasmine’s Gaze (illus. Fujimoto Gold) special illustration rare card. It’s such a lovely little restaurant, and those piles of food look absolutely delish. Note how Jasmine is holding out her little finger as she shoves that big ol’ sandwich into her mouth. That’s how you know she’s elegant.
OK, we’ve seen a lot of sweet cards here—it’s time to grim things up a bit. Scarlet & Violet—Surging Sparks also includes cards that have a more foreboding tone to them. Wo-Chien (illus. danciao), the Ruinous Pokémon, is especially intimidating on its card. The dark, churning clouds combine with the dead leaves that comprise Wo-Chien’s body to create a mood befitting a Pokémon that can turn forests to withered husks. Volcarona (illus. matazo) looks rather fearsome on its card. We love the way its body acts as a barrier between the peaceful setting sun and the raging lighting storm. Eternatus (illus. AKIRA EGAWA) is also looming in the sky, but given the Legendary Pokémon’s immense size, it feels less fearsome and more “Oh, this is the end of the world, isn’t it?” The light above Eternatus gives the impression that the sky darkens as it approaches whatever unfortunate people or Pokémon are in its path.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is getting new booster packs at some point this month. At this time, we don’t have many details about those packs, but there’s one thing a lot of fans want before new cards are added: extra spots for decks. In the game, players can have a maximum of 15 decks at any given time. Once players have reached that cap, they have to delete decks if they want to build something new. More cards means more room for strategies, so players are hoping that the game will give players more room to experiment without abandoning what they’ve created.
No official reason has been provided for the 15 deck limit in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, but users on the game’s subreddit have been speculating about it, and about potential solutions. Some fans think that it could be a memory issue, and that it would take up a lot of extra space if players could make an unlimited number of decks. Other players assume that the developers plan to offer additional slots, but players will have to pay for them, either through in-game currency or as an incentive in the Premium Pass. We don’t know if that will be the case, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising; after all, Pokemon Go similarly charges players to increase the number of Pokemon they can have at a given time, and as well as storage space for items.
It’s also possible the developers of Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket have no intention of doing anything with the current limit. At the end of the day, 15 is actually a pretty steep deck limit, and most players probably aren’t using more than that on a regular basis. Counting the game’s Colorless-type, there are just 10 Pokemon types in TCG Pocket. That leaves players with room for at least one dedicated deck for every single type, plus 5 extra. That’s pretty substantial on its own, and only the most hardcore players are going to regularly rotate between that many decks.
It will be interesting to see how Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket evolves once the game has been around a little bit longer. At this point, it’s only been a little over a month since the game became available, and we can definitely expect to see things change over time. After all, the TCG itself has greatly changed since the original Base Set launched back in 1996, and it stands to reason that we’ll see that happen with the digital version as well. Whether or not that means fans will get the option to build new decks, however, remains to be seen!
Pokémon TCG Pocket might be a highly simplified form of the Pokémon TCG, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a competitive meta. For the past five weeks, over 1,000 players have taken part in streamer Ursiiday’s weekly tournament, and that’s allowed us to see a noticeable shift in the meta. This week, Charizard ex is finally on top, and a surprising new Greninja deck has emerged to quench the flames.
In the first month of Pokémon TCG Pocket’s lifespan, Pikachu ex and Mewtwo ex have dominated the ‘competitive’ scene. These decks are obvious favorites, featuring some of the most powerful Pokémon cards on the platform.
Pikachu ex proved particularly troublesome, winning the first two tournaments thanks to its high level of consistency and powerful, low energy cost move. But Mewtwo ex took first place in tournaments three and four, powered by the strong synergy of Gardevoir fueling Mewtwo ex’s highly damaging attack.
Finally in Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly tournament five, which took place on November 30, we have an upset. Charizard ex, the third ‘face’ of Pokémon TCG Pocket’s first set Genetic Apex, took first place for the first time, but more interestingly, a brand new deck graced the scene, with a Water-type Greninja list securing the bronze medal.
The victorious Fire-type deck is particularly dangerous to the lightning mouse strategy, as both Charizard and Arcanine ex can one-shot Pikachu. With that energy type squeezed out a little bit, Water decks now have some breathing space.
The new Greninja deck is an interesting one, with a flexible and unique strategy. It relies on Greninja’s ability to deal a little bit of damage to any Pokémon, regardless of whether it’s in play or sitting on the bench. The ideal gameplan for the archetype is to have a high-damage dealing Pokémon like Articuno ex up front, then snipe at your opponent with a Greninja (or two if you’re living the dream) that’s waiting in the wings.
Greninja can be used to lend extra damage to your main attacker, counteracting potions, and making it easier to finish off a ‘mon. But sometimes you can also use its ability to soften up or even KO other Pokémon on the bench, particularly paired with Articuno ex’s Blizzard attack. And of course the water type has an obvious advantage over the Charizard ex decks that are seeing a comeback.
Pokémon TCG Pocket has recaptured my interest in Pokémon in a way that few games have done since I first played Pokémon Blue in 1999. This isn’t to say that it’s my first time revisiting the series. Back in 2016, my friends and I would take almost daily Pokémon GO trips to our local park. Occasionally, out of a sense of nostalgia, I’ll grab a new mainline Pokémon game to see what I’ve been missing (and put it down after an hour, never to touch it again). But Pokémon TCG Pocket comes closest to capturing my initial obsession with Pokémon.
Pokemon TCGCollecting cards and creating decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket feels a lot closer to my earliest experiences opening packs of Pokémon cards than even my more recent engagement with the Pokémon TCG and Pokémon TCG Live. This is partially due to my social experience with Pokémon TCG Pocket, but also thanks to the game’s card pool. The game’s focus on tight and accessible gameplay also deserves some credit for fueling its success.
I never would have imagined that, at age 30, a healthy dose of my daily communications now has to do with Pokémon. Since the release of Pokémon TCG Pocket, I have rarely gone a few hours without at least one message showing off an impressive new card being sent to a group chat. Of course, it helps that Pokémon TCG Pocket is a mobile game, so the process of screenshotting a great pull and sharing it with friends involves only a few clicks.
While the methods may be updated, the act of showing off my coolest Pokémon to friends is still very nostalgic. Pokémon TCG Pocket also has built-in ways for players to show off their favorite cards on their public profile. That means even players who don’t have an enthusiastic group of Pokémon fans to share their collection with still have a chance to share their pulls with other players. But it isn’t just the collecting aspect of Pokémon TCG Pocket that feels similar to collecting the first edition cards back in the 90s.
To be clear, Pokémon TCG Pocket does have a lot of the same deck-building tendencies that can rob modern TCGs of some magic. There is a pretty well-defined meta, and finding meta builds online (or net decks) is very easy. While this wasn’t necessarily the case back in the days of dial-up, I still find that deck building in Pokémon TCG Pocket feels similar to cobbling a deck together from random packs I bought at Toys "R" Us.
One of the reasons I think Pokémon TCG Pocket lends itself to the type of experimental deck building I used to do as a kid is its limited card pool. Sitting down to play the full Pokémon TCG, where thousands of cards are legal in Standard, it can be a little impractical to sift through them all to create a unique deck. In contrast, Pokémon TCG Pocket has only around 200 cards, with some repeats for special art treatments. This makes it a lot easier to look through and find cards I want to play with.
Another way Pokémon TCG Pocket encourages creative deck building is by having a decent free-to-play model. When playing the physical Pokémon TCG, there isn’t really an option to get free cards. Because players have to be smart with their money, they are encouraged to simply purchase cards that are good in the meta. However, when players are consistently getting free cards from Pokémon TCG Pocket, there’s no real harm in trying out some new creative builds that might not work.
Going up against my friend’s janky Venusaur deck reminds me of a time when the only real consideration I gave my Pokémon cards was how much I liked the Pokémon I was collecting. I remember being pumped to pull a Venonat as a kid, simply because I thought it was cute. Since I’m not worrying about how much cards cost or how competitive my deck will be at a local event, playing Pokémon TCG Pocket feels a lot closer to this simpler way of engaging with the game.
While I had a suspicion that I would be interested in Pokémon TCG Pocket when it was announced, I wouldn’t have expected it to have a broad enough appeal to pull in people who didn’t actively engage with TCGs. What has helped Pocket’s broad appeal - and in turn helped it recapture the feeling of the initial 90s Pokémon craze - is its simplicity. The game is a much more streamlined version of the TCG, making it much easier for players to engage with.
Not only are the rules and card designs a bit simpler, but Pokémon TCG Pocket is also fully automated. This means players don’t have to remember rules or sequencing, because the game does it for them. It even has handy reminders if you forget to attach energy or play a supporter card, making it less likely that you’ll make a serious misplay. This accessibility, plus the ease with which friends can play remotely, has helped make Pokémon TCG Pocket appealing to a wider audience than a typical TCG might have. And built-in nostalgia for Pokémon doesn’t hurt.
Now that I’m older, it takes a lot for something to occupy the same amount of space in my brain as Pokémon did back in the 90s. However, Pokémon TCG Pocket has done a pretty good job of keeping me excited about the game. For one, opening a couple of packs daily means I’m consistently engaged with the game. Pull rates for cool cards also aren’t terrible, so it’s not uncommon for me or someone I know to get a rare card that we want to share. This helps keep an active social scene around the game for me.
This frequent engagement with Pokémon, especially with a version of card collecting, is something I haven’t experienced since I was in grade school. While I won’t say my enthusiasm for Pokémon TCG Pocket has reached full five-year-old status, it is the closest I’ve come in a long time. Any lifelong Pokémon fan who hasn’t tried out the game yet should give it a shot.
A new limited Pokemon Trading Card Game card illustration was drawn by Tetsuo Hara, the artist behind the Fist of the North Star manga series. The Pokemon in question is Irukaman, who is better known in English as Palafin.
Palafin is the evolution of Finizen, both of which debuted in the ninth-generation mainline entries Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. This card will be particularly based on the evolved Pokemon’s Hero Form. Tetsuo Hara is depicting the Pokemon performing Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, the signature attack of the Fist of the North Star protagonist Kenshiro.
The uniquely illustrated card will have the same in-game parameters as a previous Palafin ex card drawn by PLANETA Mochizuki. This Pokemon will have 340 HP with the ability Hero’s Spirit (or Mighty Soul in Japanese), which only allows the card to appear from the effect of Palafin’s ability Zero to Hero (or Mighty Change in Japanese). It will also have a Giga Impact attack that requires one Water energy and deals 250 damage, but it will render the Pokemon unable to attack in the player’s next turn.
Pokemon TCG Pocket has become a massive hit on mobile devices since its release in late October. Racking up over 30 million downloads in just over a month, Pokemon TCG Pocket has already brought in a whopping $120 million and continues to be incredibly popular today. The Pokemon Company has even managed to ride its success to a nomination for Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2024.
Despite its incredible success, it hasn't all been perfect in the world of Pokemon TCG Pocket. As one would expect from a new adaptation of a long-standing game, this mobile release takes some liberties from the rules of the pre-established card games and changes the overall formula. One such change is rubbing players the wrong way and may open up a slippery slope for the future of this title.
